Property Records

Property Records: what the decisions show

This topic covers FOIA requests for property-related records held by public bodies, such as lists of properties with index numbers, lease agreements for public facilities, emails about sales of public land, and assessment data. Disputes often turn on whether the information is exempt as private, deliberative, real-estate negotiation, or work-product material, or whether the record must be created.

In these decisions, the PAC generally required disclosure where bodies withheld factual property identifiers, financial terms, or existing assessment data without a valid exemption, finding violations for redacting index numbers and denying leases. At the same time, it recognized limited withholding for genuine sale negotiations and deliberative communications, and found no duty to create new reports, resulting in one partial violation.

At a glance: 4 documents from 2014 to 2018(2 binding opinions, 2 determination letters). Outcome: 4 found a violation (in whole or part), 0 found none. Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(b) (Private information) (1); 7(1)(f) (Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials) (1); 7(1)(r) (Real estate purchase negotiation records, until completed) (1).

Recurring issues

• Whether property index numbers in a list of properties granted an adjustment may be redacted as private or personal information. (A list of properties with Commissioner's Adjustments under a shared housing ordinance)
• Whether lease agreements for convention and trade show space, including rental prices and square footage, may be denied. (Lease agreements for convention space at McCormick Place)
• Whether emails about the sale of a city-owned parking lot may be redacted under exemptions for deliberative communications and real estate sale negotiations. (Emails about a city-owned parking lot sale)
• Whether property assessment records such as sales ratio reports and assessment comments may be withheld as work product and whether an assessor must generate new reports. (Property assessment documentation and calculations)

Practical points

• Do not withhold property index numbers as private or personal information when providing a list of properties.
• Provide existing assessment data such as audit trail information, but a public body is not required to create new comparables or valuation reports.
• When withholding real-estate negotiation and deliberative emails, still disclose purely factual material and third-party communications unrelated to negotiations.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.